


The Little Things Give You Away

by mrsshuckface



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Character Death, Drama, F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-11 01:41:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4416218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsshuckface/pseuds/mrsshuckface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minho has it good: he has a beautiful girlfriend and he has just gotten his best friend Newt back from a long trip to England. It's all about to change.</p><p>Or</p><p>Minho awakes from a dream just to hope he had never woken up in the first place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Little Things Give You Away

**Author's Note:**

> Based on two songs, the first and the most important being Linkin Park's The Little Things Give You Away. I highly recommend listening to it while reading this!  
> The second song is stated at the end as it's kind of a spoiler.

Minho slept uneasily. When he eventually woke on the couch, he supposed it was because he was now running a fever.  _Just at the right moment too,_ he thought to himself sarcastically. He was planning to take his girlfriend to the beach on the weekend, they both needed a break and what better way to do that than spending a sunny day on the beach, relaxing, swimming and maybe even surfing a little bit. His girlfriend couldn’t surf but he had promised to teach her.

He thought about her for a while longer, smiling to himself. She was really great and now that she was getting to know his own best friend, they were sure to have lots of fun and happy times together. Maybe they could even hook Newt up with Sonya, even though his best friend really didn’t need any help when it came to that department.

Minho glanced at the clock on the wall but it was getting too dark now, he couldn’t really tell the time from it so he grabbed his phone from the coffee table. Rising up from the couch to go take a painkiller he squinted at the phone, looking vaguely confused. He had 10 missed calls and 5 messages, all from Gally. He looked at the messages first, seeing if he could figure out what the issue was with Gally but they all said basically the same thing.

_Call me as soon as you see this, man._

Minho sighed and swallowed the painkiller, rinsing it down with a glass of water and dialed Gally’s number, deciding to call Newt after that. They were probably still watching The Walking Dead and he didn’t want to interrupt. He was supposed to watch it with his girlfriend and Newt but he hadn’t been feeling too good and so he had decided to just go home and sleep it off.

The phone rang only once when Gally picked up.

 

“Minho? Is that you?” he shouted and scared the living shit out of Minho.

“Jesus, Gally, calm down. Who else would it be?” he asked, completely baffled. The line went silent for a while.

“Uh, where are you right now?” Gally asked, with a strained voice. Minho stared at the wall incredulously.

“I’m at home. I didn’t pick up because I was sleeping. Man, I think I caught the flu or something. Fuck the timing, we had that beach day planned with…”

 

Suddenly an overwhelmingly nauseating feeling took over Minho. Something was definitely very, very wrong.

“Gally, what’s going on? What’s wrong?” he asked but received no answer. “Gally!”

“I’m here,” a weak voice answered, sounding oddly relieved. “You were supposed to be watching Walking Dead.”

“I know, Newt’s still there though but I left because I didn’t wanna spoil the show for them, you know, with me screaming and all,” Minho laughed uneasily.

“Wait, what? Newt’s there?” Gally yelled and Minho’s heart skipped a beat. “No, fuck man, no,” Gally started whimpering into the phone. Minho sank to the ground, feeling dizzy.

“Gally, tell me,” he urged his friend, not knowing if he really wanted to know now.

“Dude… Oh fuck. Dude, the entire building is on fire and no one can get a hold of Newt or your girl.”

 

Minho felt like he had been punched in the stomach. All air left him in a whoosh as he dropped his phone to the floor beside him. He heard Gally’s frantic voice on the other end of the line begging him to answer. He just couldn’t seem to get his hands moving. He was shaking violently now.

He felt like he was watching himself from somewhere further away. He didn’t really feel anything yet, but he knew he should. He knew he should do something, try to call the both of them, maybe call some hospitals, anything. He didn’t want to think about the fact that he might have to call the morgue.

Suddenly he jumped up from the floor, grabbing his phone and keys and bolted into the hallway and into the street. He needed to run. Run as fast as he could and not stop. He could do something. He just wanted to get there as fast as possible so he could see them. They were surely standing outside the building, phones left inside into the burning remains. Yes, that’s why no one could get a hold of them. He kept dialing their numbers, just in case.

 

He ran so fast his feet hurt and the breath in his lungs felt like it was ripping him in pieces. He didn’t care about that now. All he wanted was to see his girlfriend and his best friend as soon as possible. All these little things about them kept flooding his mind as he ran: how he first met Newt, in school at the tracks. How they bonded fast after Minho’s father had passed away suddenly. He still remembered how Newt had held him for hours, soothing him after he had gotten the call.

He remembered how he had met his girlfriend: how her hair glistened in the sun, how her eyes shone bright, how she made him feel. He truly loved her. He remembered when he had given her the diamond necklace, afraid it was too much. How he had told her he loved her that same night. She hadn’t replied but he wasn’t worried: he knew she cared deeply for him. Love would come for them eventually.

 

He was close to the building now. He knew because he could smell the smoke, see the glow of the flames even if he couldn’t see them yet. He knew it was bad. He finally reached the building and tried to break through the crowd gathered in front of the building but there were so many of them. Some were crying, some were just staring with shocked eyes.

“Let me through, my girlfriend lives in there!” he yelled at a huge man who wouldn’t budge, no matter how much Minho tried to push him out of the way. The man seemed to snap out of his trance, looking at Minho now with pity in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” was all the man said in a quiet voice before letting Minho through.

It was bad. Flames rose high into the sky and the firefighters were simply standing there, watching as the flames devoured the building. Minho could see his girlfriend’s window: it was broken and the entire apartment seemed to be going up in flames. He felt sick: she would surely be devastated, all her things ruined. At least she had good insurance.

Minho started looking around. He could see many people wrapped up in blankets, blackened from the thick smoke. There were several ambulances there. He started dashing from one to another, trying to find out where his loved ones were. He finally came to a stop next to one where paramedics were taking care of an older woman. Minho recognized her as her girlfriend’s neighbor. Surely if she had gotten out, Newt and his girlfriend had gotten out too.

He had a hard time catching his breath.

 

“My… My girlfriend… She lives next to her, where is she?” he finally sputtered out, hands on his knees. No one spoke. Paramedics stared at him like he was speaking a different language. He didn’t understand why they weren’t answering him, but something in the old woman’s face finally got through to him. He fell to his knees just as the paramedics pointed towards another ambulance. There were two black bags lying on the ground next to it.

Minho stared for a good long while. It couldn’t be… It couldn’t be true. How could something like this happen? No, surely there was a mistake. Some horrible joke. Or maybe a nightmare caused by the fever and he was waking up any minute now, with his girlfriend next to him, smoothing his hair as he laid his head on her lap. Yeah, that must be it.

He approached the bags with shaking hands. There were only two so maybe these were someone else’s bodies. He would cling on to that hope as long as he didn’t have solid proof. He reached the smaller bag and got his shaking hand to settle on the zipper. That’s when his eyes caught something lying on the ground next to the bag. A necklace. A blackened diamond necklace. The same one he had gotten his girlfriend.

 

Minho felt himself falling back to the ground. No, it wasn’t, it couldn’t be. He stared at the bag that suddenly seemed to be all he saw. No, no it wasn’t true. He had to make sure. Maybe she had just dropped the necklace.

He scrambled to the bag and opened the zipper with trembling hands. What he saw stopped his heart: she looked untouched, like she was just sleeping and was going to wake up at any moment. It was definitely her. All the familiar features he loved so much. The lips he had kissed just two hours ago. The hair he had swiped behind her ear. His girlfriend.

Tears started to flow silently. He gagged and fell back from the bag. He couldn’t get to the other one fast enough and ripped the zipper open. The familiar honey-colored hair. The knife-sharp jawline. Just as she, he looked like he was just sleeping.

Minho had barely turned his head around as his stomach contents flew onto the wet grass. He fell to his hands and knees and threw up until there was nothing left to throw up. He just kept gagging.

 

“It was carbon monoxide poisoning. We found them first,” a voice spoke close to him. He glanced up with tear filled eyes and saw a figure. A firefighter. “They were gone before we could get to them. The fire seems to have started right below the girl’s apartment so all the carbon monoxide rose up to her apartment.” The man kneeled beside Minho and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“If it makes this any easier, I don’t think they ever realized what was happening until it was too late. They didn’t feel any pain.”

They were gone, just like that. Minho stared at the man and finally broke down.

He just wanted to wake up now.

The firefighter rose up and left in silence. Minho slumped to the ground.

 

Seconds turned into minutes. Minho had no idea how long he had been lying there on the soaking wet grass. He didn’t really care. He felt like his whole life had been taken away from him in just a matter of hours.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up to his knees. It was Gally. He was staring at the bags with a horrified expression on his face, tears streaming silently down his cheeks. He pulled Minho into a hug and let out a heartbreaking sob. It brought Minho back to reality as the weight of the situation slowly fell into place. They were gone. They were truly gone.

 

_I had a dream about a burning house_

_You were stuck inside, I couldn’t get you out_

_I laid beside you and pulled you close_

_And the two of us went up in smoke_

_Love isn’t all that it seems I did you wrong_

_I’ll stay here with you until this dream is gone_

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics at the end are from Burning House by Cam.


End file.
